Coho salmon conservationists in Marin County are losing hope they'll see large numbers of the fish return to spawn this year, even after our recent rains. Marine biologists say the future looks grim after a series of drought years, and they're looking for ways to stop the fish from being sucked into what they call "the vortex of extinction." Dan Brekke reports.

Dan Brekke is an editor with KQED Radio News. He hails from Chicago, where he started his journalism career fresh out of high school as a copyboy for the Chicago Tribune. Subsequent stops have included The San Francisco Examiner, Wired News, Wired magazine, and TechTV. He has also worked as a freelance magazine writer, contributing pieces to Wired, The New York Times Magazine, Business 2.0, and Travel & Leisure Golf. A student of history, he has attended Illinois State University and the University of California, Berkeley.